Matchmaker, Matchmaker
by thefourteenthdarkone
Summary: After the final battle ends, Meredy is left with an injury that prevents her from traveling around with her guild. Unable to fight, she decides to stay with the Strauss siblings and Fairy Tail until she heals. When she decides Mirajane and Freed need to become an item and Sting gets involved with helping matchmake them, will she end up matchmaking herself instead?


**I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS FOREVER. Anyway, thanks to my sister for inventing Sting x Meredy (christened "Mering") and to Eien ni Touko for looking it over. I hope you guys enjoy!**

"Four _months!?_ " the pink-haired mage asked incredulously, staring at Fairy Tail's healer with obvious shock. She was sitting on a wooden chair, watching as Porlyusica examined her arm. The wound had arisen when the final battle had been fought between Zeref, END!Natsu, Acnologia, Fairy Tail, Crime Sorciere, most of the other main legal guilds, and the entire Alvarez army. It had been quite the fight, indeed, and Fairy Tail had the most scars of it out of everyone.

At one point, Meredy had been stabbed in the arm by a glowing blade. She had quickly killed the soldier that stuck it in her, but the wound hadn't shown any signs of healing in the two weeks since the battle. Crime Sorciere had hung around Fairy Tail, as not only had they all been injured as well, but Jellal wanted to hang around Erza, Cobra wanted to see Kinana, Angel wanted to talk to Yukino and Lucy, and everyone pretty much just wanted a break. They had decided that it would be a good idea to have Porlyusica look at Meredy's arm before they left, and it was a good thing too, because apparently….

"You don't have a choice if you ever want full use of your arm and magic again." the woman told her matter-a-factly. "It's cursed, and a very strong one at that. It feeds off magic power, so as long as it's there your magic power regenerates at a _much_ lower rate then normal, no matter if you have Second Origin or not. I'm going to wrap it up, but yes, you need to come see me every week for four months, which means staying in Magnolia. And definitely NOT going around and hunting dark guilds with that guild of yours!" she added firmly, giving Meredy a stern glare.

The girl groaned. "Seriously? No fighting and no traveling for four months? I can't do anything about it, can I?"

Porlyusica had already gotten to her feet to fetch the bandages. "Absolutely nothing. My word is final." Walking back over and beginning to wrap the blue-colored cloths around Meredy's arm, she added, "And if that blue-haired friend of yours protests, I'm chasing him off with a broom."

Meredy shuddered slightly. This lady had scared _Natsu_ off when he came to check on Lucy (who had left by now) earlier, and after Natsu had gone Etherious during the battle, Meredy had resolved never to get on his nerves ever. Whatever skill Porlyusica had learned with her broom was enough to give anyone pause, and Meredy doubted her leader of sorts was an exception.

"I'll make sure he's got no objections, then." Meredy told her decisively. She doubted Jellal would like being chased off with a broom, and she really didn't think she needed to give Cobra another thing to tease him about.

As the woman finished wrapping, Meredy thought about what her current situation meant. _I'm going to have to ask someone where I can stay for a while…..Wendy was talking to Cobra when I left the rest of Crime Sorciere, she'd probably know something._

As soon as she was allowed to get up, with strict instructions to not use magic for now, Meredy flicked open the door. Waving bye to the healer, she skipped off, heading to where her guild had established a campsite of sorts.

Entering the clearing, she could already see Cobra looking at her. He was sitting next to Wendy and Charle, with the former looking quite cheerful and the latter probably very disapproving of Wendy associating with these "ruffians". Meredy found that cat's attitude hilarious, considering that Fairy Tail was literally made of ruffians and rule-breakers.

Then again, she didn't _think_ any of them (besides maybe Natsu as END, and that didn't really count) had ever murdered anyone. Think.

"So?" came Jellal's expected question.

"Four months." Meredy said despairingly, walking over to where Angel reclined and plopping herself down next to the Celestial Mage.

"What do you mean by four months?" Jellal asked her, obviously confused. Meredy just moaned, so Cobra rolled his eyes and explained.

"The healer lady with the broom said that the wound's cursed. So the little pink demon has to stay in Magnolia for four months so she can get treatment."

Meredy huffed indignantly at his referring to her as a little pink demon, but nodded to confirm nonetheless. "And I'm not supposed to use magic, if possible. So no fighting."

"You're serious. And Wendy, you couldn't do anything?"

The blue-haired girl shrugged sadly. "I did my best, but whatever curse she's got on her arm feeds off magic power. Trying to heal it with my Sky Dragonslayer magic only makes it worse."

Jellal sighed, leaning against the tree he was standing by. "In an ideal situation, we'd just hang around here for four months, but with all the dark guilds arising from the fall of the Balam Alliance, Acnologia, and Zeref, we can't do that."

Meredy nodded. She had expected that response. Although she snickered slightly when Kinana whispered not-so-quietly to Angel, "As much as some of us would just _love_ to hang around _certain people_ for a while longer."

You could see the tick mark forming on Jellal's head as he relentlessly continued. "And we still have to travel around, as the Council still hates us and I'd rather not be in one place for too long at a time. I mean, I'd really rather take you with us, but I don't want your injury getting worse….."

"It's okay." Meredy told him, smiling. "I'm perfectly capable of living without you for a few months, especially if I have Fairy Tail around! Especially _Erzzaaa._ " she added slyly, while the rest of Crime Sorciere snickered. Jellal sighed again, though now he sounded exasperated. Honestly, the Heavenly Body mage was convinced that the rest of his guild had made a pact to tease him about the red-haired woman every five minutes, without pause. Even Cobra and Kinana were teased less collectively, and Angel had literally locked the two in a closet together (it was unfortunate for her that it was a wooden door and they were both poison mages).

Jellal looked apprehensive at the thought of leaving Meredy for such a long time, even though she obviously planned to stay in Magnolia, and would therefore be around Fairy Tail all the time, not to mention the Sabertooth members and various other guilds that often dropped in. While it annoyed her, she could understand him. The two rarely left each other's sight, especially after Ultear's…...vanishing. Jellal was quite overprotective of the girl who had essentially become his greatest confidant, regardless of what both said.

"Seriously, all teasing aside, I'll be fine!"

Jellal didn't look convinced, so Wendy decided to pipe in again. "And I can help her find somewhere to stay! The Fairy Hills dormitory building is available, but it's pretty expensive…" she trailed off.

They sat in silence for a second before Kinana shot up, with a bright look in her eyes. "You know, Elfman and Lisanna have been spending a lot of time away recently, and Mirajane's been feeling kind of alone, in that huge house she has all by herself. She said that she wished someone else would come live there with her for a while, maybe she wouldn't mind if Meredy stayed there!"

Wendy nodded. "She did say that, didn't she?" Meredy looked intrigued. "Mirajane's always seemed really nice….but do you really think she'd agree?"

"Of course!" Kinana told her happily, standing up. "If you don't have any objections, Jellal, we can go track her down right now!"

The leader of Crime Sorciere nodded slowly. "Well…..Mirajane's trustworthy, if I know anything about her….I suppose it could work….it wouldn't hurt to ask. If she doesn't mind at all. Go find her, and then come back, alright?"

Meredy had anticipated that response and had already jumped to her feet, running after Kinana and Wendy, with Charle flying over them. "Obviously! Bye!"

"Be careful with your arm!" Angel called worriedly, before Cobra put a hand on her arm.

"Give up. You'll never get through that girl's head."

"He's right about that." Midnight said, from the corner where the rest had been sure he was asleep. "She's more hyper then that one time Brain thought it would be a good idea to give Racer soda."

Racer smirked, while Jellal looked confused and the rest of the Oracion Seis shuddered. You would think that someone like Brain would think hey, maybe it's not a good idea to give hyperactivity soda to the speed mage. Evidently, that assumption was incorrect. The result was a very angry group of children and a very destroyed castle.

 _Really_ destroyed. No one even knew it was possible for a wall to bend like that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So, where is Mirajane, anyway?"

"We're checking her house first….Kinana, you know where she lives, right?"

"Yeah, we just have to take a right here…." the purple-haired girl replied, turning on a brick path. Up ahead, you could see the outline of a beautiful, two-story white house, with flowers planted all over the lawn.

"It's so pretty!" Meredy exclaimed, stopping to admire the scenery before dashing to catch up with her three companions, one of whom was already knocking on the delicate snow-colored door.

Lisanna opened it with her foot, as she was holding a cookie in one hand and a communication lacrima in the other. "Hi, Kinana, Wendy, Charle, Meredy? What are you doing here? And is that the arm? Is it okay? Come in!"

Meredy looked slightly startled at the girl's rapid-fire questions, but followed her inside, observing the homely feel of the place. "It's getting better, but I'm not allowed to use it for a while….that's why we're here, actually."

"Oh yeah?" Lisanna asked, popping the rest of her cookie in her mouth and dropping the lacrima on the table, walking over to the oven to take out another sheet of the baked goods. "I was just talking to Lucy, she's on a mission with Natsu and Happy and I had to make sure they weren't annoying her like they usually do. Especially since those two are in a weird I-obviously-like-you-and-you-like-me-but-we're-too-shy-to-say-it thing. It's actually hilarious!"

Meredy snickered. "Ah, sounds like several other people I know. Is Mirajane here?"

"Yep! Let me call her down!" Lisanna answered cheerfully, dashing off towards the stairs. As the three sat down on the chairs by the table, or on the table in Charle's case, they could hear Lisanna calling her sister and the subsequent response. Soon enough, the two white-haired Take-Over mages came back into the kitchen, Mirajane smiling as usual. "Hi, you four! What's going on? Cookie?" she offered, tossing several on a plate and carrying them to the wooden table in the center of the room.

Meredy tried a cookie while Kinana explained the situation. She tasted it and gave Wendy, who was also eating one, a very happy look. These were _literally_ the best cookies _ever_. Meredy was going to eat like five, regardless of what Jellal would probably say.

"So you need a place to stay, Meredy? While your arm gets better? That must be an awful pain, especially in your line of work." Mirajane said sympathetically. When Meredy nodded in agreement, she continued, "Well, I'm definitely in favor of the idea, if Lisanna and Elfman don't object! Juvia talks about you a lot, and you sound like a lovely person!"

The Maguilty Sense mage blushed. "R-really? S-she does? Oh, I didn't know that…..but thank you, Mirajane!" she exclaimed. "This really helps!"

"I've got no objections," Lisanna shrugged. "And it's no problem! You're almost part of Fairy Tail anyway, and we always help out family! Elfman's on a mission, Mira, but let me grab my lacrima and I'll go call him and ask him what he thinks." She snatched the lacrima from the table and made her way to the back door, opening it and walking outside.

Mirajane dropped herself in the seat across from them and grinned. "So, Meredy, you've got some connections to Grey, don't you? Any word on his 'relationship' with a certain water mage?"

Meredy grinned evilly. "I've been sworn to secrecy, but I managed to find some things out through my Sensory Link, and let's just say some things happened when Grey finally apologized to Juvia properly…."

Mirajane squealed. " _Reeealllyyy!?_ Ooh, as soon as I get back to the guild, it's interrogation time!" Wendy was giggling nervously. The last time Mirajane had attempted to interrogate Grey about Juvia, the Ice-Make mage had literally incurred Erza's wrath to get away. And poor Wendy had had her brownies destroyed. Seeing the blue-haired girl's consternation, Mirajane smiled kindly. "I'll bake you new brownies if something happens to them again, Wendy, don't worry! Sweets are very important, after all. What did Grey do when you questioned him, Meredy, anyway?"

"Oh, he doesn't dare anger Ultear and Ur's spirits." she answered cheerfully. Despite Mirajane and Wendy's very confused looks, Meredy deigned to explain more, opting to eat another cookie instead.

She was saved from further explanation by Lisanna's reentrance, prompting Mirajane to inquire how the conversation had gone. Luckily, all Elfman apparently had to say about the matter was that "It's MANLY to help out your friends!"

They all decided to take this to mean that Elfman was okay with the situation. There wasn't much else you could do.

Thanking Mirajane and Lisanna profusely and telling them that Jellal would probably stop by later to thank them ( _and to warn them to not give me any more cookies,_ she thought wryly), Meredy pushed herself to her feet and ran out the door, Wendy chasing after her and Kinana following. "Meredy! Don't go so fast! You'll hurt your arm more!"

The pink-haired girl reluctantly slowed down, casting another glare at the injured appendage in question. It was causing a _lot_ of problems. Meredy would like to kill it, but there was a good chance that would make nothing better. Unfortunately.

Kinana and Wendy (who had caught up by now) walked besides Meredy, following the path back to the rest of Crime Sorciere. Wendy frowned, noticing the other girl's glum expression.

"It's not all bad, at least! The Strauss family is really nice, you'll love staying them! And this way, Juvia," and here she grinned, "and consequently Grey and their romantic situation, will be available at all hours of the day."

Meredy considerably brightened. "That's true!" She smirked maliciously, skipping down the rest of the path and calling, "Hey Cobra! Help me find out where Grey lives, won't you?"

"Forget it." the Dragonslayer called back in a bored tone. "You'll stalk him, and I'll get blamed for some reason."

"How did you-"

"I read minds." Cobra replied amusedly at her forgetting that for what must have been the twenty thousandth time. Meredy scowled at him and he continued to smirk, as Kinana snickered.

Jellal sighed at the repetition of the two mages' usual banter. "How did it go, Meredy?"

The girl continued what seemed to have devolved into a competition, but answered in a somehow cheerful tone, "Great! Mirajane's super nice and pretty and she was all for me staying with her!"

She chose not to mention the cookies and thankfully, neither did Kinana or Wendy, as Jellal looked surprised that something had actually been easy to resolve for once. There was a good chance that would cause Jellal to rethink this decision.

 **I'm posting this on tumblr too, for those who follow me. Please, please, please review if you liked it, especially because I'm probably the only person with anything in Sting x Meredy. Constructive criticism is also welcome! Thank you!**


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